Stanford football: Shaw blasts BCS rankings

Without mincing words, Stanford coach David Shaw opened his regular Tuesday news conference by calling the BCS “flawed.”

The Cardinal (10-1) moved up from ninth to sixth in the latest BCS rankings. But Shaw took issue with the fact that Oklahoma State (10-1) is ranked fourth and Virginia Tech (10-1) sixth. He seemed more incensed that nobody seems to know exactly how the system works.

He said BCS officials themselves know the system is flawed, “which is why they’ve proposed a lot of changes going forward.”

In the computer rankings, Stanford is just ninth, behind Boise State and two-loss Oklahoma.

“All I’ve heard all year is the computers don’t like Stanford,” he said. “The computers haven’t programmed themselves. To have a one-loss Pac-12 team behind a one-loss ACC team (Virginia Tech) means that the computer values the ACC more than it values the Pac-12. … I don’t believe that’s accurate.

“You look at common opponents; they beat Duke by four (14-10), we beat Duke by 30 (44-14). I keep hearing about quality wins… Well, who decides what ‘quality wins’ are? And secondly, how does a ‘quality loss’ affect people? We lost to a very good Oregon team that’s ranked No. 10 (in the BCS); (Virginia Tech) lost to a team that’s ranked No. 17 (Clemson 23-3). I don’t get it.

“Oklahoma State is outstanding, a very good football team. Once again, we lost to a team that’s in the top 10. They lost to a team that’s not ranked (Iowa State). I don’t get it.” He said he was not necessarily questioning Stanford’s position in the rankings. “I’m just saying the explanations I’ve been getting don’t make any sense.”